Another convergence merger is announced. Arris and Tandberg are to join forces: as they put it, "The newly created company will have the scale and the critical mass to lead the market for converged voice, data and video systems".

There is no question that the emerging technologies across media, communications and services are creating disruption and opportunities. It will be interesting to track over the next couple of years whether Arris/Tandberg and the myriad of other convergence-driven mergers really improve business performance and shareholder returns.

Not that Arris/Tandberg will necessarily fail. But there seems to be a growing tendency to assume and accept that, to play in the "convergence era", whatever that ends up meaning, any single company must be able to offer a wide portfolio of products to meet any possible customer requirement, and that focusing on a core competency is a bit too last year.

Has "convergence" just become a new way of excusing a tech-driven round of mega-mergers and acquisitions, the way that anything "internet" justified excessive investments nearly 10 years ago? "It's OK, shareholders: trust us, this is a convergence play. We can't describe convergence, but we know it's going to be good."